Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson today announced that consumers can now go online and check the complaint history of any company or business that has generated complaints to his department.
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NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: CAPT. MARK WELCH
AUG. 19, 2010 (850) 617-2301
FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL CRACKS DOWN
ON DRUNK DRIVING THROUGH LABOR DAY
~ State troopers participate in national Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest. enforcement campaign ~
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Highway Patrol will participate in the national Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest. campaign beginning tomorrow through Labor Day. The Patrol will join thousands of other law enforcement and highway safety agencies across the nation on Aug. 20 – Sept. 6 to reduce the number of impaired drivers on Florida’s roadways in an effort to save lives.
“Drunk driving is simply not worth the risk. Not only do you risk killing yourself or someone else, but also the trauma and financial costs of a crash or an arrest for impaired driving can be significant,” said FHP Director, Colonel John Czernis. “Violators often face jail time, the loss of their driver license, higher insurance rates, attorney fees, time away from work and dozens of other expenses. Do not take the chance. Remember, if you are over the limit, you can expect to be under arrest.”
The campaign encompasses the Labor Day holiday weekend, which begins Sept. 3. The holiday caps off the summer season for many, and historically travel increases with people driving to celebrate with friends and family. In addition to the national enforcement campaign, the Patrol will participate in Operation C.A.R.E. (Combined Accident Reduction Effort) during the four-day holiday weekend. The operation involves all 50 state police and highway patrol organizations across the United States.
All uniformed FHP personnel, including those normally assigned to administrative duties, will patrol interstates and other major state roads during the four-day holiday period. FHP Auxiliary and Reserve troopers also will volunteer to augment the Patrol this weekend. The Patrol aims to increase its presence throughout Florida in an effort to deter traffic violations and to enhance services to motorists who break down while traveling or who need other assistance. Please remember to dial *FHP (*347) from your cell phone to contact FHP to report an aggressive or impaired driver or to request roadside assistance.
The Patrol reminds motorists that Florida’s primary safety belt law authorizes law enforcement officers to stop and cite motorists solely for failure to buckle up. Also, be sure to move over for stopped emergency vehicles with flashing lights on the side of the road. If you are unable to change lanes safely, slow down to 20 mph below the posted speed limit, or to five mph if the speed limit is 20 mph or less.
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The website for the 10th annual National Book Festival, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress, features “vote for your favorite Book Festival author.” The website is at www.loc.gov/bookfest/.
Book-lovers will be able to select from among the roughly 500 authors who have appeared at the nine previous National Book Festivals, or will appear at this year’s festival, using an alphabetical listing or voting from the page that includes each author’s biography and photograph. The top 10 vote-getters will be displayed on the voting page, with daily updates.
“One of the ways we’re observing the 10th year of the festival, celebrating ‘A Decade of Words and Wonder,’ is to make our festival website more interactive and lively,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. “We’ve had a wealth of authors at the festival, and this is one more way for their fans to show their allegiance.”
The website also has new multimedia offerings?including clips from interviews with past Book Festival authors?and a countdown clock ticking away the days, hours and minutes remaining until the festival opens.
More than 70 authors now are slated to appear at the event on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010. The event, free and open to the public, will run from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., situated between 3rd and 7th streets on the National Mall.
President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, the First Lady, are honorary chairs of the event.
To celebrate this touchstone anniversary, the festival will also feature several special events during the week preceding the festival day.
The 2010 National Book Festival poster, by renowned illustrator Peter Ferguson, can be downloaded from the festival website.
Authors and illustrators scheduled to participate in the National Book Festival will make their presentations in the History & Biography, Fiction & Mystery, Poetry & Prose, Contemporary Life, Children and Teens & Children pavilions.
Festival-goers can meet and hear firsthand from their favorite authors, purchase books, have books signed, take photos with PBS storybook characters and participate in a variety of learning activities.
The 2010 National Book Festival is made possible through the generous support of Co-Chairman, National Book Festival Board David M. Rubenstein; Charter Sponsors Target and The Washington Post; Patrons AT&T, Institute of Museum and Library Services, The James Madison Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and PBS KIDS Raising Readers; Contributors Borders, Digital Bookmobile powered by OverDrive, Penguin Group (USA), ReadAloud.org, Scholastic Inc., and the Library of Congress Federal Credit Union; and Friends The Hay-Adams and National Endowment for the Humanities. Thanks also to C-SPAN2’s Book TV and The Junior League of Washington.
The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled collections and integrated resources to Congress and the American people. Many of the Library’s rich resources can be accessed through its website at www.loc.gov and via interactive exhibitions on a personalized website at myLOC.gov.
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photo courtesy of DEP
With August more than halfway over, now is the time for paddler enthusiasts to strap on their life jackets and make plans to participate in the upcoming kayaking events for the 2010/2011 paddling season. Kicking off the season in Cedar Key on September 18 is the first ever Hidden Coast Paddling Festival which runs through September 25. The eight-day event begins Saturday at dawn with the First Annual Kayak Fishing Tournament. Afternoon weigh-in will be followed by a clam bake hosted by the Cedar Key Aquaculture Association – free to participants, and later paddlers will be treated to Movies in the Park featuring A River Runs Through It, directed by Robert Redford. On Sunday, a guided paddling/walking tour of Atsena Otie will precede the departure to the Suwannee River.
Festival events on Monday will include paddling from Fanning to Manatee Springs followed by movies and socializing during the afternoon and evening. On Tuesday paddlers will embark on a guided trip into the backwaters of the Suwannee River Delta. Tuesday evening, the Suwannee Chamber of Commerce will host a Chicken and Rice dinner with all the ‘fixin’s’ followed by a presentation by Eye of the Eagle Wildlife Sanctuary veterinarian Dr. Dawn Miller, featuring live birds.
Wednesday’s event begins at Horseshoe Beach with breakfast optional in the Horseshoe Beach Café, followed by self-guided tours to Shired Island and/or Butler Island. Dinner will be available for menu prices and two local historians will share information about the area. Thursday morning the Horseshoe Beach Library will provide a pancake breakfast (library donations will be gratefully accepted). Kayak adventures include two separate trips – one to Fireworks Island, the other to Butler Island.
On Thursday evening a ‘Meet & Greet’ will be held at Steinhatchee’s River Haven Marina. Friday’s breakfast is scheduled for 6 a.m. with paddling on your own to follow. Dinner will be available at the River House for $7. Saturday the 25th, breakfast begins the final day of festival paddling. To learn more about the first annual Hidden Coast Paddling Festival and about paddlers’ dinner discounts, go to http://hiddencoast.net/hcpf1.html.
Next on the paddling calendar is the tried and true, and always exciting, Calusa Blueway Festival to be held October 29-November 7, 2010, www.calusabluewaypaddlingfestival.com. Other paddling adventures, arranged by Paddle Florida who is known for its guided group trips on the Suwannee River, include an ambitious schedule covering regions throughout the state. Between Christmas and New Year’s, December 27-30, 2010 a 36-mile paddling trip down the Wekiva and St. Johns rivers is planned. This is closely followed by the second annual 42-mile Peace River trip over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, January 14-17, 2011. The Florida Keys is on tap for President’s Day weekend, February 18-21, 2011. And spring break for many college students works in well for the seven-day Ochlockonee River trip in the Big Bend, March 12-18, 2011. For more information, log on to http://www.paddleflorida.com/. To learn more about the state’s longest and most ambitious sea kayaking trail, the Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail, visit www.dep.state.fl.us/gwt/paddling/saltwater.htm.
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I would really like to cruise around campus in this.
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Music Monday – Rock and R&B Headlines
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It seems to me to be a lifetime ago. That surreal August changed a lot of people’s lives, some drastically and some, like mine, in a more subtle way.
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It’s not that I ever had a bad experience at Ruby Tuesday. The few times I’ve eaten there I have gotten decent food with good service but the truth is, they never stuck out in my mind.
That changed today. It being my wife, Lori’s birthday and Ruby Tuesday offering a “Free Birthday Burger”, we were destined to eat lunch there this afternoon. I’m very glad we did.
It started kind of slow, with their new “Garlic Cheese Biscuits”. They weren’t bad, they were just kind of bland. Not a bad biscuit but sorely in need of more garlic and cheese.
Then the burgers arrived!
Triple Prime Bacon Cheddar Burgers to be exact and they were good. (Mine was $10.99 and Lori, the birthday girl’s was free) Served on a perfect burger roll, not too soft and not too hard, just enough bread. These burgers were juicy without being greasy but somehow I kept all that juice in my mouth and saved my shirt. They had a very hearty beef flavor, not the kind of bland burgers that you get from most restaurants. I’m not sure what cut of beef they use for their ground beef but I have a feeling it wasn’t your standard 80/20 trim beef . These burgers had some flavor!
They were served with the bacon and cheddar as their name implies but I also ordered mine with tomato and onion. Ruby Tuesday uses it’s own house brand mayo which was a great compliment to the grilled ground beef. The kitchen forgot my onions but that was for the best because that just allowed me to enjoy the flavor even more.
Endless fries came with the burger and they were the kind of fries that go great with a burger, not hard crispy but a good layer of crispy on the outside and still a little soft potato on the inside. As for the endless part, I was lucky to finish the burger and the original helping of fries.
We visited the Ruby Tuesday in the Oaks Mall in Gainesville, Florida. The wait staff was excellent, the perfect amount of attentiveness without intruding on your meal. Our waitress was friendly, helpful and even remembered to wish Lori a Happy Birthday at the end of the meal. She also offered sodas to go without being asked.
Over all a very pleasant dining experience. Great food, great wait staff and an excellent PR campaign to offer a free burger on your birthday.
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